Disney Cruise Line’s brand new ship, the Disney Adventure, has been delayed from its Christmas-time 2025 debut date. This post shares details about the postponement, impacted sail dates, discounts and what to do if you’re impacted, plus our commentary.
Let’s start with the key dates: the Disney Adventure was previously scheduled to sail its maiden voyage on December 15, 2025, followed by a season of 3-4 night cruises from the Marina Bay Cruise Centre for at least five years as part of a collaboration between Disney Cruise Line and Singapore Tourism Board.
Bookings opened to the general public last year on December 10, and the maiden voyage has mostly booked up since then. Demand has definitely been softer than the Wish-class ships that sail out of the United States, but Asia is a distinct market with less brand affinity and this ship is massive–DCL’s largest by far. Singapore’s strategic location and appeal make it a thriving cruise hub in Southeast Asia, so hopefully the Adventure find long-term success as a ‘destination’ cruise ship.
Unfortunately, Disney Cruise Line has made the difficult decision to delay the maiden voyage of the Disney Adventure by approximately 3 months, which will impact two-dozen sailings. The Disney Adventure’s new maiden voyage sailing date will be March 10, 2026. In order to accommodate the new maiden voyage, cruises through and including March 12, 2026, will be cancelled. This is due to construction challenges and unexpected delays in the shipbuilding process, as indicated below by the VP of Disney Signature Services.
Guests who were booked on the original maiden voyage will be automatically shifted to a new sail date of March 10, 2026 at a 50% discount. If those sailing on the maiden voyage are unable to move to the new March 10th itinerary, Disney Cruise Line will extend a 50% off future cruise credit which can be used fleet-wide on a cruise departing on or before March 31, 2027 when booked before March 31, 2026, with any originally paid funds converted to a future cruise credit or a full refund.
Guests booked on the other two-dozen sailings between December 18, 2025 and March 12, 2026 will receive an automatic refund to their original source of payment. DCL will also extend a 50% off future cruise credit to these impacted guests, which can be used fleet-wide on a cruise departing on or before March 31, 2027 when booked before March 31, 2026.
In announcing the delay, Joe Schott, President of Disney Signature Experiences had this to say: “As we work on the final touches to bring the Disney Adventure to our guests, we’ve encountered unexpected delays in the shipbuilding process. To ensure the experience we deliver reflects our commitment to excellence, we’ve made the decision to adjust our timeline. We know this may be disappointing to our guests, and we’re working directly with them to offer flexible rebooking options and uphold the trust they place in us.”
The Disney Adventure departed Wismar, Germany earlier this month after over 7 years under construction–much of which time was as a different brand entirely before Disney Cruise Line acquired the incomplete ship.
Along with over 1,400 workers reportedly onboard, the Adventure is currently undergoing a series of sea trials and assessments in the Baltic and North Seas. The sea trials processes are crucial to ensuring all systems are functioning correctly before the ship is delivered to Disney Cruise Line for operations.
This key milestone follows the ship’s Float Out ceremony back in mid-April, when it first left the shipyard for open waters. Exterior work on the Disney Adventure is materially finished, and the focus has shifted to the interiors, along with testing the ship’s systems.
It’s unclear what caused the delay–whether there’s still work on the Imagineered spaces, or if something was amiss during sea trials. We’ve been hearing rumblings for a while that the Adventure would be another “Wish situation,” and a race against the clock to complete the interiors and themed spaces.
As you might recall, the Wish similarly had its maiden voyage delayed back in 2022. That was a 6-week delay, with similar guest recovery offered. We ended up setting sail aboard that ship’s Christening Cruise that summer, and it was very clearly still a race against the clock even then. (By contrast, the Treasure was much more polished for its maiden voyage last Christmas.)
Note that Disney Cruise Line’s newest Wish-class ship is not impacted. At this time, the Disney Destiny is still slated to set sail on its maiden voyage on November 20, 2025.
The Disney Adventure is unlike any other ship in the DCL fleet, with seven uniquely themed areas:
Disney Imagination Garden
Toy Story Place
San Fransokyo Street
Town Square
Wayfinder Bay
Disney Discovery Reef
Marvel Landing
Saying the Disney Adventure unlike any other ship is not hyperbole. Again, it isn’t part of the Wish class and at its core, this isn’t a Disney Cruise Line ship, period.
The Disney Adventure is the former Global Dream, which former CEO Bob Chapek acquired for $40 million when the ship’s previous owner filed for bankruptcy before completing the vessel. I do not purport to be an expert on cruise ship costs, but that seems like a steal given how far along the ship was when purchased.
Disney was rumored to be the only interested buyer after negotiations with two other parties failed. This gave Disney complete leverage, with the insolvency manager’s choices being Disney or selling the ship for scrap metal. There was reportedly resistance to the latter route, as it hurt morale at the shipyard.
Long story short, Disney got the ship for a song and then invested roughly $1 billion to reimagine the interior into something properly themed and befitting of the Disney brand. We give Bob Chapek a lotta guff here on Disney Tourist Blog, but the Disney Adventure looks like a “Rare Chapek Win.” Hence there being no accompanying Umbrella Chapek photo, which is to illustrate “Common Chapek Ls.”
Back at the time, the acquisition seemed completely out of left field, impulsive, and maybe not what the company’s focus should be as it was struggling with streaming and Chapek was already on the hot seat. It was very much inconsistent with Disney’s normal methodical and risk-averse way of doing business.
Now that we’re seeing the fruits of the reimagining, and even though it’s still early, I’ve gotta say that I’m impressed. Chapek made the right call. In any case, all of this Global Dream backstory should contextualize the Disney Adventure, and help explain why it’s such a dramatic departure from the Wish-class and the rest of the DCL fleet. Because really, it’s its own thing–like the Pixar Place Hotel of cruise ships!
Perhaps the Pixar Place Hotel comparison is an apt one, as the reimagining of that one-time third party hotel took far longer than originally anticipated. It’s entirely possible that’s the issue here, as Disney continues the interior transformation process in a race against the clock–with the clock winning.
We’re not necessarily concerned about the delay, which seems fairly common with cruise ships (and other Disney projects that have debut dates set so far in advance, for that matter). For us, the jury is obviously still out until we see the Disney Adventure in person. There are some interesting ideas on the Adventure, but there are aspects of the enormous ship that are also off-putting.
There’s the possibility that the Adventure will have a massive and impersonal vibe to it; or that the rides will feel cheap, ostentatious, and without redeeming merit; that the fit and finishings feel cheap and out of place–not on the same level as the concept art. That the majority of the staterooms will feel tiny, even by cruise ship standards.
Whatever the case, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the Disney Adventure unveil. It’s fresh and exciting, and hopefully it goes on to inspire Disney Cruise Line and Imagineering to think outside the box for all of those ships they’ve committed to between 2028 and 2031.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on the Disney Adventure’s maiden voyage being delayed by 3 months? Does this ship interest you, or is being based out of Singapore a non-starter? Do you like the ship’s areas, or do the thematic choices not appeal to you? Think this is a good addition to the fleet or at-odds with the existing ships? Confident that Imagineering can transform this into a ‘Distinctly Disney’ (Cruise Line) ship, or think it’ll stick out from the rest? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
